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Triceratops
''Triceratops '' is a well-armored dinosaur, and one of the last dinosaurs to have ever existed. Scandella & Horner 2011):‘Nedoceratops’: An Example of a Transitional Morphology. Longrich & Field (2012):Torosaurus Is Not Triceratops: Ontogeny in Chasmosaurine Ceratopsids as a Case Study in Dinosaur Taxonomy. Maiorino & Farke (2013):Is Torosaurus Triceratops? Geometric Morphometric Evidence of Late Maastrichtian Ceratopsid Dinosaurs. Facts Triceratops ''was about 10 feet (3m) tall, 33 feet (11 meters) long, weighed as much as 8-10 tons, and had a skull up to 2-3 meters in length making it one of the biggest, if not, the biggest of the horned dinosaurs or ceratopsians. A fully grown ''Triceratops ''was far from defenseless. Its frill was made of solid bone and sheathed in keratin, but weather it would stand and fight cannot be known. When they fed, these animals weren't like cows, they didn't graze. They were thought to be browsers, but in reality, they had shearing teeth to slice through vegetation. They fed on low shrubs. Like their smaller Asian cousin ''Protoceratops and bigger Pachyrhinosaurus, Triceratops ''had beaks that could snap of branches as thick as a man's arm. For youngsters to grow to eight tons, they'd have to spend most of their life eating. ''Triceratops was long thought to look like a giant herbivorous rhino with 3-horns, sprawled forelegs, and a parrot beak. In reality, this wasn't quite the case. Another part of spending their lives was jousting with one another. That's what Triceratops did in the wild. Like their relatives Torosaurus, Triceratops obviously had jousting tournaments in nature, even during breeding season, and they injured their frills and necks when they fought.Farke & Wolff (2009):Is Torosaurus Triceratops? Geometric Morphometric Evidence of Late Maastrichtian Ceratopsid Dinosaurs. Unlike most of its relatives, Triceratops ''lacked the two holes that are covered with skin on its bony frill, allowing it to use it as a shield to its neck as well as using it for display. The front end of its jaws ended in a sort of a beak that enabled the dinosaur to browse the fronds and twigs of the woody plants that were contemporary to the end of the Cretaceous. Its limbs were thick and the hind legs were somewhat longer than the fore, which had a digitigrade posture, i.e. the weight was distributed to its toes, rather than the whole foot. Despite claasically being depicted charging at predators, modern studies indicate that this woudn't be possible, it would shater the front half of it's skull, including it's large nose. ''Triceratops ''was one of the most successful dinosaurs ever, it once lived in huge herds of hundreds or even thousands of individuals filling up the plains in North America like modern day bison used to do. It took up around half of all fossil sfomr the well sampled Hell Creek formation. ''Triceratops ''was one of the last dinosaurs to go extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period 66,036,000 BC. Some think that Nedoceratops is also synonymous with Triceratops, wether or no Torosaurus is also, but multiple unique feutures indicate tentitive separation. According to some palaeontologists, it might be the juvenile of a different ceratopsid dinosaur, [[Torosaurus|''Torosaurus,]] though most think this is quite unlikely. Farke (2011):Anatomy and Taxonomic Status of the Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid Nedoceratops hatcheri from the Upper Cretaceous Lance Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A. In the Walking with... Series ''Walking with Dinosaurs Death of a Dynasty ''Triceratops ''was shown in the last episode of '''Walking with Dinosaurs', killed by a T-Rex to attract a mate. ''Walking With Dinosaurs: Inside Their World ''Triceratops is one of the viewable dinosaurs in the app. Appearances in Other Media ''Prehistoric Park'' Read more at the Prehistoric Park Wiki A Triceratops named Theo resides at the park, it is was also the first animal to be rescued. Refrences Category:Walking with Dinosaurs Animals Category:Dinosaurs Category:Last dinosaurs Category:Death of a destney Category:Herbivores Category:Creatures Category:2013 Remodeled Animals Category:Cretaceous Animals Category:Death of a Dynasty animals Category:Animals from North America Category:Mesozoic animals Category:Ceratopsians